


Title

by Get_below_my_line_of_vision



Category: Dracula - Bram Stoker, Frankenstein - Mary Shelley, Original Work, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
Genre: Comedy, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:33:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24059029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Get_below_my_line_of_vision/pseuds/Get_below_my_line_of_vision
Summary: Yun Ae and Tsukiya find the Creature at last in the Arctic and wants to integrate it back into society.But the Creature won't cooperate since it's too depressed.Also there seems to be a team hunting it down.
Relationships: Original Female Character & Original Male Character
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

All natural human senses had been taken away by the deathly cold of the Arctic. The snow blew endlessly in every direction as if they were participating in an endless war. It had been weeks since Yun Ae had last felt a touch; she had been cursed by the frost. She reached to hold the hand of her only companion Tsukiya to realise she had already done so. Despite the thick gloves they wore, when they first arrived they were able to sense each other's presence, yet now even the littlest of human joy was scarce. She was not able to feel safe by him.

In the midst of the hailing snow, Tsukiya was able to decipher a small blotch in the infinite white landscape. “There.”  
He spoke but did not point. Maybe he had done so in his mind, but his fingers, nevertheless his arms, never moved.  
Yun Ae followed his eyesight, “I see it too. It’s Him. Finally, I’ve been aching,” She began to move ferociously, as if a mother was going to scold a child for running away, “My knees tremble, my eyes are scorched with pain, and every breath has sharpened to slice my lungs. And I finally found Him.”  
“It could be a boulder.” Tsukiya commented as he tried to catch up with the fast-paced girl.  
“In the Antarctic?”  
“Arctic. We’re in the Arctic.” He corrected, “In fact we've been here for weeks, you should know by now we’re in the Arctic.”  
Yun Ae naturally ignored him as she usually did whenever something clashed with her belief- it was her way of life after all. So stubborn even in her final breath she would still propose a combat to settle an argument. “Do you think he would still look… like he used to?”  
Tsukiya frowned despite understanding what she meant. It seemed his life goal was to make her feel as uncomfortable as possible. If anyone else had this target he definitely would become offended on her behalf. But of course since he lacked the ability to reflect on his own behaviour, he did not mind pushing her to uncomfortable limits. “I don’t know what you mean.”  
Oblivious, Yun Ae hesitantly began to explain, “The letter described the Creature to be a perfect specimen; pieced with limbs and organs of the greatest men… In England. That would mean…”  
“He’ll be the most handsome, beautiful, attractive person we’ve ever seen.” Tsukiya finished her sentence after becoming disappointed that somehow she was able to weave a sentence to be formal despite the content of her dialogue being ‘He’ll be gorgeous.’

When the two came closer, Yun Ae hurriedly patted herself down until she brought out crumpled pieces of papers, yellow with time, “I thought I lost it.” She whispered.  
Cautiously, the two came closer to an unusually large person with stitches connecting limbs. The man, it seemed, was naked and was in a feotus position with his back facing the two.  
Yun Ae cleared her throat, “Excuse me?” She politely called out.  
“He’s not responding.” Tsukiya loudly spoke.  
Quickly, as if it was a reflex, Yun Ae hushed him. Even with Tsukiya obeying her command, silence was not achieved as the howls of the winds blasted in their ears. It was quite possible the Creature, despite having great hearing, could not detect their voices.  


“The term ‘Excuse me’ is used in England, right?” Yun Ae consoled Tsukiya for advice.  
“Maybe. Speak like the Queen.” He fired back.  
“I doubt you spoke like the Queen in your years in the United Kingdom.” She scoffed.  
“With you having been bound in Korea, I have more contextual knowledge; now speak in received pronunciation.”  
“Is that Queen’s English?”  
“It’s the only English.”  
Yun Ae opened her mouth but thankfully nothing came out. Instead, she crept up to the Creature as if he were fire itself and poked him.  


As if the Creature had received the touch of life, it animated and stood up. His shadows grew and grew, not only consuming the two, but the harsh, bright whiteness that surrounded them. The Creature was abnormally large, greater than the size of the tall Scandanavians. “Victor is dead.” His voice boomed. Despite his words digging into their eardrums, there was no energy to motivate such volume; his tone was flat and he stood slouched as if he was tired. Of course he would be, there was no food lying around in this desert, but his attitude was completely the opposite of what the two expected.  
“Excuse me, Sir?” Yun Ae spoke louder this time but frightened to the bone for having raised her voice.  
The Creature slowly rotated in search of the source of the little voices.  
“Sir? Are you kidding me?” Tsukiya whispered harshly as the Creature was taking his time turning.  
“Victor is gone. I buried him.” The Creature slurred.  
“Victor! Yes, Victor!” Yun Ae shouted with joy, understanding the meaning of his dialogue. In doing so she immediately shifted her expression to sadness as she realised smiling about a dead person was probably not the best presentation of herself. “How lamentable his… parting was.”  
“Victor Frankenstein, innit?” Tsukiya called out, “I’ve read about him. In the letter.”  
The Creature knelt down in an attempt to match their height. “Letter?”  
“Yeah, uh, there was a man… Walton, I believe. He wrote a letter. A long letter. It was very formal- hard to read. It was to his sister. She shared it with Miss Shelley.” She handed the papers to him even though her hands refused to function at first- due to the cold and not the overwhelming fear she was experiencing. “She published it. All around the world, it travelled. Everywhere the name Frankenstein is echoed.”  
The Creature delicately flicked through the pages. “I see. This is not true.”  
“Well, that’s the beginning,” Yun Ae explained, “You weren’t created then.”  


The Creature met her eyes. Awkwardly, she looked away. Her face transformed into disgust.  
“In all corners of the Earth I am perceived as a monster,” The Creature depressingly spoke, “I am too familiar with your expression.”  
Yun Ae lifted her face to reveal sympathy. “Oh no, I am not afraid of you. Do not worry.” Understanding that the Creature did not believe her, she elaborated, “I accidentally looked at your massive penis.”  
In response Tsukiya immediately raised his hand to block his view of the Creature’s genitalia. “Yeah, I read Victor studied the best features of humans and rolled them up into one person. I honestly didn’t think he would search for all features.”

The Creature looked down at the pages in his hand once more. He quickly flicked through them- perhaps reading them at lightning speed. Perhaps he did not even read a word. “Then explain the reactions of those who had witnessed me. Why am I screamed at, why am I the monster of the twisted society, why am I damned for my neutral existence?”  
“You’re too perfect.” Tsukiya wanted to have a go in turn taking, “Your eyes complete pure perfection of humanity. Nature didn’t intend this. That is why you look deformed.”  
“Abnormal!” Yun Ae corrected, “He means abnormal.”  
The Creature huffed as he flicked through more pages carelessly. He came to a halt in the middle. He sat down on his bottom and began to read deeply.  
The two knew this would be his reaction. The middle contained his perspective. To be truthful, their first expectation of their encounter would be the Creature lashing out on them, but this was their second expectation, so technically they did predict that this was going to be one of his reactions.

The Creature groaned every now and then. At this point he had forgotten the existence of the two puny humans in front of him as he fell deeper and deeper into the past.  
He remembered seeing Victor for the first time. His walk had a bounce to it and he was humming and when he wasn’t he was muttering equations, not that the Creature would know what it was. Victor had lit up candles as a source of light but when the Creature awoke, he was cloaked in total darkness. Yet he was able to see just fine. His eyes were strong and good. He saw an excited man rush to the candle light to flick it back on. Curious, the Creature approached the man and it wasn’t until colours entered his retna when Victor had turned around contently to only discover the Creature being alive. His jaw dropped and he gave out a painful scream and in horror he fled. Not far, just to another room. He had wrapped himself in blankets and had forced himself to take rest.  
The Creature then was left in the room with only one source of light. Fascinated by the workings of the wax, he reached out and accidentally suffocated the flame. In the blackness of the room, the Creature tried to obtain the attention of Victor but failed to properly walk.

By the time sunlight began to rise, the Creature learnt how to take steps and balance well. When he entered the room of the sleeping man, he watched him until his eyes shot open. This was the man who had created him- who had given life to him- he was his creator. Not that he knew how to translate this into words. Victor bagan to scream once more, and believing this was the form of communication, the Creature barked back. The frightened man ran out once more and that was when the Creature realised he had made a mistake. From then on, he limited his speech.  
He did find sanctuary in a cottage and had found books. He unravelled the Christian belief and read poems of great literature.  
He acted as the antithesis of the scientist and gave gifts to his hosts, playing the part of a kind anonymous mythical creature. 

It was also in that cottage in which he met a blind man. They spoke. There were no words to describe the inner peace and happiness the Creature experienced with such a lovely man. However when the blind man’s family had discovered his existence, they proposed to fight him. In disgust, he burnt the place down. He burnt the entire village down. Even the blind man had to die. One good man did not justify the community of hatred.

The Creature stopped reading.  
A tear trickled down his cheek. “I remember now. I am a monster.”  
“No,” Yun Ae denied, “The society-”  
“I proved them correct!” He shouted, “I had leant how to read, write, and speak from the local folks and I repaid my debt in destruction. I became the horror they damned me as. They did not see an alternate version of me where I was cruel and unforgiving- they saw the entity I was going to take the form of.”  
Tsukiya began to shake his head.  
“Yes, yes, little boy! I killed so many mercilessly! I have brutally burnt tens of people! I have framed an innocent and I have strangled a child!- just because of the name ‘Frankenstein’. I have been consumed with revenge and now my Victor is gone; I have no purpose in life.”

The two stood astonished. In the months of discussing how the Creature was going to react, it was definitely not this.  
“But you have fought on,” Yun Ae pressed, “You are alive. Surely that was because you had the inner desire to live.”  
“No.” The Creature wailed. “I have been trying to join Victor for many years- I have forgotten how long. I thought my limitation would be the cold… Or maybe the loneliness. So I have stranded myself in this desolation. But the curse is too strong.”  
Yun Ae was lost for words which was a rare event. And the fact that this happened made Tsukiya lost for words as well.  
With no verbal objections, the Creature began to sew his cocoon once more and returned to his foetal position.  
“We’ll accept you.” Yun Ae desperately blurted, “We’ll be your friends. You’ll integrate into the modern society and you will be accepted. By everyone this time. You will never be alone. There will be no trace of the Frankenstein name left. Nothing and no one will remind you of Victor.”  
The Creature lifted his head, “I doubt that.” He drooped his head once more.  
Tsukiya whispered a quick prayer until touching the shoulder of the creature. The body was warm and the blood rushing was so strong he could feel it beneath his fingertips. “Your creator might’ve been mad, but my god you’re amazing. You’ve tortured yourself longer than any prison sentence the humans would've given you. I forgive you. I understand you want to face the consequences, but you already have! You’ve shown a lifetime of guilt, and even more!”  
The Creature still didn’t lift his head.

Up above the situation was quickly cut short. An aircraft had paused in the air and had started to descend. Then came other smaller aircrafts into view. “The hell’s happening?” Tsukiya shouted above the sudden spike in volume.  
Finally the Creature raised his head, “They’ve been following me. I wish to no longer run. If they torture me, they do so. I have earnt every right to accept such fate.”  
Yun Ae saw a broad shouldered man with confidence in each step hop out of the aircraft before it properly landing out of eagerness. The man had long brown hair in a ponytail and wore round glasses. He smiled and shouted… something. The winds were so strong it blocked out much of his words.

Yun Ae began to run towards the man with adrenaline pumping in her veins. “Sorry, I could not hear you from such a long distance. What is your business here? I thought we gained permission to enter the Antarctic.”  
The man gave out a short laugh, “You, you are funny.”  
“Why thank you.”  
“Where’s your origin?”  
“Asia. Korea.”  
“Ah, I have borned in the Netherlands. Amsterdam.”  
“Oh. I do not know where that is.”  
“Neverthink about it; no one will know everywhere.” His smile never faded which went starkly against his attire. “I have been in looking for a big man- a creation. A monster.”  
Yun Ae shrugged. “We are with our friend but I doubt he was ‘created’. He was born with a disease that affected his growth.”  
“Ah, then you wouldn’t mind us a closer look?”  
“Absolutely not.”  
“Why not?”  
“He’s.. shy.”In the distance they heard a roar. “He’s so shy he is protesting to talk to you.”  
“Do not try to confuse me.” He twisted his body for a few seconds to shout to his men who were marching out of the vehicle like clowns out of a small car, “He’s beginning to run away! Ready your stakes!”  
Yun Ae contemplated if this man was truly a threat. But when she glanced behind her and saw a panicked Tsukiya running away with the Creature, she assumed the worst from the man.

When the two simultaneously faced each other again, she quickly shot a smile back. “I hope you get what you want but I assure you, it is not here. This is the North-Pole. It is a mystical place. You might as well find Santa here rather than what you truly desire.”  
He leaned in slowly and whispered in her ear, “What I desire is to bring justice to a psychopathic mass murderer.”  
Without waiting on her reply he walked past her, their shoulders colliding.  
Yun Ae experienced anger like none before. She was already competitive in meaningless tasks but this scenario contained the ingredient of her empathy. Despite its cute premise of the word, it also meant a massive fuel for ferocity. She was going to win this race no matter what. In response, she practically burst her adrenal medulla to let her bloodstream be flooded with the hormone.  
She was going to help the Creature in whatever way she can.  
She whispered in Korean, “The game is on you bitch.”


	2. Chapter 2

Tsukiya was trying to keep up with the Creature but he was racing along at superhuman speeds. Tsukiya watched the Creature’s legs move, ‘They’re not black- so it’s not Usain Bolt’s legs…’ He thought, failing to realise Bolt is not dead.  
At this point the Creature was too quick and he got away, leaving Tsukiya to feel like a wimpy hunter who had accidentally chased a deer away. “Damnit,” He spoke as he slowed down, “Yun Ae is going to kill me.”   
He breathlessly looked behind him and sure enough there were people chasing him. But they were far, far away from him and therefore far from his mind. He sat down as his legs were trembling and immediately stood up again, forgetting he was on ice and the floor was deathly cold.

He looked at the endless white ahead of him. It looked like a kind abyss. From now on he decided he wasn’t going to travel- he felt so alone.  
He took deep breaths and fulfilled his lungs' desperate pleas for more oxygen. With one step followed by the other he began to head for the Creature once more. With heavy steps he began to run like he’d never done before. It wasn’t the stampede of masked men behind him that motivated him rather the feeling of unleashed anger that he felt from behind him which made his bones shiver.

In every step he took he aimed to take a leap. All his focus on was where the Creature could be and the hopes that he was indeed going in the right direction. He also contemplated if he was doing the right thing. There was a possibility that he was acting as the tour guide, leading them to the introduction of the Creature. In fear, he tilted the angle in which he was running slightly. He was quite proud of that decision and wished to literally pat himself on the back.

Since he was staring into the vast emptiness he began to wonder what the difference between an Arctic and an Antarctic was. Well, the Arctic of course was where the North Pole was at. While Antarctica was in the South Pole. Disregarding these facts he began to ponder deeply of other differences as he ran head first into vicious waves of the snowy winds. He was sure he knew more than this. Although much of the studying done with Yun Ae about the letter rather than the Arctic itself. Obviously this should have been warning signs to not actually travel to discover if the Creature was indeed a real figure but unfortunately both lacked a lot of common sense.  
At this point his legs burnt that he wanted to extinguish the pain with the ice below him. When he did look down, he realised he was, not figuratively, on thin ice. He looked ahead and saw water consume the landscape. Then he remembered- Antarctica is a continent and the Arctic is floating blocks of ice. He wished he remembered this sooner. It was too late to slow down, and as he took another shameless, strong dig into the ice with his foot the ice below him consequently crumbled and he fell.

There have been many tales of people facing Death itself and watching their lives flash before their eyes. It is seen to be poetic but Tsukiya always thought it was Death wanting them to review their own lives. For Tsukiya, he saw his family. That was about it, really. He didn’t have the happiest of lives nor did he have the worst. He just saw his family.   
It was numbingly cold. Ironic since his memories were supposed to bring him warmth. He could not move any of his limbs so he could not even try to swim back up. He wasn’t happy with his life by far as it was boring. At least meeting the Creature was something to talk about in the afterlife. What a fascinating conversation-starter. Maybe he would meet Mary Shelley there; talk about the success of her publishing. He closed his eyes because he did not want to watch the world darken out of lack of oxygen. If he was going to see the world as total darkness let it be him who initiates it.  
Then oxygen painfully forced its way back in. He had entered the afterlife, and it wasn’t as peaceful as he thought it was going to be. He shot open his eyes and it was dark with some glowing ice surrounding him. Did he find an air bubble? Sweet! He wasn’t ready to die anyway. He climbed onto ice which looked like it could support his weight. Surprisingly his limbs worked. Joyfully, he sat down. When he tried to move his arm he found it exhausting to do so. Heavy clothes and water did not work in tandem. Nevertheless he was glad he was alive. Then he saw who was in front of him- it was the Creature. Tsukiya then realised his limbs hadn’t been working and it was the Creature who was helping him get onto the ice by pushing him as if he was a baby trying to climb onto a chair.  
“Thank you,” He huffed. “Really.”  
The Creature nodded. “I come here when I feel unbearable pain. I cannot drown. My body instinctively drives me to survive. I found this pocket of air and dug with my hands a seating place- that is where you are situated now.”  
“Oh.” He calmed down a bit but his rapid heartbeats dominated much of what he could hear, “It is a very calming place, I’ve gotta say. Very therapeutic.”  
“Yes…” The Creature agreed. “That is why I brought Victor here.”  
“You what?” Tsukiya saw the opposite sitting place and saw a rotten dead body. “I’m going to be sick.”  
“Don’t do that here- I do not know how to get rid of the stench.”  
Somehow the Creature was content with the life threatening odour beside him but not the tamer alternative of vomit.  
“That’s... Victor?”  
“Yes…”

Tsukiya had read the letter over and over again and he was consistent with who’s side of the war he stood with. The Creature was sympathetic. Mr Frankenstein was given so many chances to perform a shred of humanity but he stubbornly refused time and time again. It reached a point Tsukiya skipped Victor’s perspective as he was revolting.  
Yet the Creature was looking at him with such wide eyes, filled with tears. It had been two hundred years, he was sure, yet the Creature seemed to still weep for a monster who had ripped him apart.

“You said you were his Adam.” Tsukiya muttered, a little frightened to mention the past, but with Victor’s corpse in front of him the situation was fitting.  
‘Yes. And he was supposed to be my God.” The Creature slammed his huge hand next to Tsukiya which made him whimper. The Creature positioned himself to sit next to the human. “He wanted his creations to bow down to him. Even though he tortured me, every part of me sings to be with him. It pains me so to feel this despair. What should be triumphant feels like a wrench in which my heart had been stolen by him. I wanted to be free yet my soul orbited around him. He was never just my creator… He was my father. And he left me.” He began to cry, howling.  
Alarmed by the sudden volume, Tsukiya hushed the Creature while gently rubbing his hand against his very wide shoulders.   
“What is your name?” The Creature asked in the midst of his asymmetric breathing.  
“Tsukiya. The woman you met earlier is Yun Ae. ”  
The Creature nodded, “I think I can manage to remember those names.”  
Tsukiya smiled.

Up above a collection of steps were heard. There were indistinctive shoutings in which he could not decipher. He figured if they were shouting, they were confused, and if they were confused, then then they were safe. The ice was surprisingly thick, although Tsukiya prepared himself just in case the ice ceiling did crumple. The voices above filtered out as one voice dominated them. “Kill the monsters! Think about your friends and families!”

Tsukiya immediately bit his lip and was about to comfort the Creature but the latter managed to speak first. “The little girl, Yun Ae, said I could be accepted… I can hear the voices above- she is trying to deceive me- to mock me.”  
“No.” He sternly spoke. If anyone could doubt her, it was him alone. She would only lie to him- to mess with him. To everyone else, she was sincere. That was how she was brought up he was sure.  
“The man is Abraham. I heard one of the men call him. No one else was permitted to call him by his name except ‘Sir’. For a while I thought he had no name. A faceless man… Peculiarly he was like everyone else. He was human… And I am not.” The Creature spoke as if he had rehearsed the dialogue. This would make sense since he would have thought about a man hunting him every day, in fear.  
Tsukiya shifted. “How long has he been hunting you?”  
He groaned deeply, reflecting his thoughts. He was drilling into his deep memories. Of course he had not felt the need to reminisce of the past nor tell the story of his life. This was strange and new to him. Every event which he had stored to remember scorched him. His throat ran dry and he quietly started to wail- like a poor animal would do. “About one hudred years after Victor had died. Then there was a bridge of peace. So silent in those years. Then... they came again. With apathy, hostility, and bitter loathe, they came. And I hid. I… felt powerless. Not because there were waves of men, no. It was because I had no purpose. With my father gone, I wished to rot. Rot like the dead corpse that I am.” He began to weep. “I heard the men. They searched for me. They hunted me. Yet I hid. Like a foolish monster I hid. I was a hypocrite. If I wanted Life to slit my throat, why was I attempting to escape?”  
Tsukiya gently reached for his hand. “I was scared at first, y’know. But I like you now. Right now, the Abraham guy? He doesn’t represent us. He doesn’t represent humans. If we go back home, to England, you’ll see how people are different now.” He leaned in. “I heard some people got legally married to sex dolls.”  
The Creature began to laugh. “I have no knowledge of what those are but that would mean I would be accepted?”  
Tsukiya smiled widely. “Of course.”  
For a brief moment light shined in his eyes and his existence was in harmony with hope.  
“I’ll take you to a ship. It’ll go to Scotland. You can mingle there. But it arrives rarely. So… We’ll have to stay here for a week, I think. Don’t worry we’ll stay at our residence. Until then…”  
The Creature smiled sadly, “You’ll not go with me?”  
Tsukiya shook his head, “Of course, I mean, I need to find Yun Ae. Wouldn’t be too hard. No cell phones, but we’ve always been able to find each other. Since Abraham guy talked to her calmly from what I’ve briefly seen, I can only hope, right?”  
The Creature slowly nodded.

Up above, once again they heard a voice- Abraham: “Chase the girl! Obviously follow the boy was the wrong decision. They work together! He diverted our attention! She’s heading to the Monster!”

In response Tsukiya whispered in Japanese, “Shit.” He placed his hand reassuringly to the Creature’s shoulder. “I’ll just have to find her first. Then we’ll be all fine.”  
The Creature nodded his head slowly.  
Tsukiya smiled once more despite his heart burning in so much pain and worry for Yun Ae.


	3. Chapter 3

There was only one thing Yun Ae could think about and that was wondering where the two had possibly gone. She also was able to squeeze in some imagination on how large the Arctic must be.   
Behind her she was able to sense rumbling thunderstorms of boots hitting the frozen floor.

She had always been competitive up to the point where she was unable to form bonds as all she saw were enemies. The brief summary of this presents her as violent and unempathetic- and this was what she sometimes believed herself to be- but it was what made her motivated. She read the letter because some girl asked their mother for a summary as she was unable to understand its complex language. Although their conversation was clearly private, Yun Ae felt it was her duty to explain the historical account. However she had never read it. For all she knew, there was a crazy scientist who shouted “IT’S ALIVE” at lightning in hopes of summoning life into a lump of body parts. 

In a way, it was her stubbornness and being needlessly driven that had led her up to this moment. At the rate she was going, it was uncertain whether this personality trait has saved her from a static life or has caused her to stare at fire which was burning coincidentally right next to a line of gasoline. As the men charged towards her, she was definitely concluding her situation was the latter- and the fire had begun to catch on and followed its path to a gas tank.   
It was not the first time she had a situation blow up in her face. Though this was the first time she feared for her life. In spite of the strangely happy leader, the rest were just silhouettes in which she did not give much thought to. With the snowy weather she could not turn back to humanise them by seeing their faces either. That and also she was in horrendous fear of the men being only a few centimeters away from her if she were to glance at them. She could not afford to slow down. If she would die she wished it was not a jumpscare in which her heart would abandon her body to flee to save itself.

As she was running, her legs became so numb she wasn’t quite sure if she was even moving. It was as if the snow had evolved into ice and sharpened into needle-like icicles which tried to comfort her with rapid acupuncture.

Under tremendous pain, she squeezed her eyes shut. She only focused on the sounds. It seemed that was the only working sense she had left. Evidently the winds have also taken hold of her common sense since it is pretty elementary on why someone should not run while their eyes are closed- especially in a slippery terrain. Nevermind her actual goal to have been searching for the Creature, her new target now was to outrun the wonderfully fit men behind her- that was at least how she imagined them.  
Unfortunately science and logic applied to her and she slipped. Finally as she was falling she opened her eyes. She screamed in a high pitched manner, in which she had not done in many eons. To compensate, she roared like a lion. Obviously by doing so she was heavily deprived of oxygen and her lungs ached. Actually, most points in her body were in pain. How harmonious.  
This would seem like a quick defeat but her fighting spirit was stronger than her physical capabilities and she immediately stood up once more, the main motivator being the burning coldness of the ground.   
She cursed under her breath for lacking logic and even muttered to herself, “That’s what Tsukiya would’ve done” in her native language.

However she could not stop herself from feeling so dizzy. Soon balancing became too hard of a task and she wobbled.

To the men it looked like she had begun a ritualistic dance. The familiar leader ran past his men and skidded in time to catch the falling girl. As she was in his arms she seemed disgusted that he was able to catch up to her so gracefully.   
She should have taken notice after so many failing grades year after year in her physical education that maybe anything active wasn't her forte. “Who are you? Why did you follow me?”  
She was so exhausted- maybe with all that running parred with the expectations she had in her head she would catch the Creature before the men sucked all the energy out of her.  
“Tell me where the Monster is.” He firmly spoke.  
The man’s eyes were black yet it shined. While Yun Ae had bowed down to logic it seemed this man had somehow cheated the system.  
She grinned. “For the life of me I would not know. In fact I believed you were the ones who knew. However I was able to catch notice you were following Tsukiya who changed his direction. I was able to notice this- I am pleasantly surprised to know you had no clue.”  
He gave out a strong huff in irritation and clear annoyance. It definitely wasn’t his first time hunting the Creature. But from the looks of the situation, having humans in the picture was also a new scenario for him. “So we’ve been on a chase of the birds?”  
Taking a second to decode what he meant, she began to laugh. “You. You are funny.”  
He frowned at first which then transformed into a smile like before. Yun Ae concluded he was just a smiley person. “I am Abraham.” He introduced himself.  
“Hello, Abraham.” She smiled back.

Being raised in Korea, the concept of formality and honour had been drilled into the marrows of her bones. She could lose a fight and be humiliated but if the gang leader would kneel down and apologise she would be quick to forgive them. It was the expectation of her, of course. However this did not translate into her covertly forgiving them. Her tongue and her grudges and thoughts were separate entities. This was why she could be polite and smile in front of Abraham but more than anything she was urinating in her pants. He was kind enough to introduce himself so she repeated his name in order to remember him. In return she would save him from needing to repeat her name as it was not the easiest for a foreigner from the Western world to pronounce nevertheless remember.

At this point she was so out of energy her vision began to darken. In a normal context she would not be so alarmed as this has happened before. However when one is surrounded by the vast stage of ice with the cold embrace of the winds, one usually panics. Her plan was to befriend the man so she could rest in the clown vehicle of theirs. “Could you be so kind and offer me a shelter?”  
The man frowned once more as he straightened up with her still in his arms. He then, without a thought, handed her to one of the men behind him. “She takes rest.”  
As she was being held up by a warm man next to her, she wished to thank him until she heard Abraham’s voice behind her. “Be sure she’s locked up too!”  
The man beside her replied back without hesitation.  
Warm blood showered her insides with heat. Her pupils dilated and she held her breath. She stopped walking and muttered, “Please don’t.” She shivered and her teeth chattered.  
The man shrugged as if it was just orders he was following; and it was. “Nothing I can do about it, sweetie. At least you’re not gonna die.”  
Yun Ae wasn’t sure if she should feel relieved or not. This is what happens when she relies on improvisation. She should have also taken note of the grades beside physical education: drama. The teacher had written ‘F for being too dramatic and thereby making no sense’ for her evaluation. Only is she reflected on those notes... 

“Where are you taking me?” She grabbed the man’s arm beside her.   
Sure, she needed balance, but it was a hopeless attempt to threaten the man if he were not to reveal their plan. Of course when a tiny woman threatens to end someone’s life there is no denying of the built-up fire they have inside, but it is also evident that they will create no proper damage. So despite her tone being low and vicious, in a neutral perspective, she was just being downright ridiculous.  
“Back to our base,” The man spoke sternly.  
Yun Ae respected people around her if they were as motivated as she was in their goals and dreams. But something tickled her as she heard the man speak. The man, in closer inspection, was rather lean and thin. His neck looked like it could be crushed by the weight of his round face. He was the definition of a twig yet he spoke in a deep pitch. She didn’t want to randomly laugh to appear insane, no that’s another plan, so she tried to keep the laughing bubbles suppressed. “And what is this ‘base’?”  
The man glanced at her and creepily didn’t cut the eye contact. As scary as this was, Yun Ae for some odd reason viewed this as a staring competition and also refused to look away. Taking away the grave context in which she was about to be imprisoned, if Korean media taught her anything, the two were going to fall in love. Too bad they were in the Arctic, free of the shackles of K-drama.  
“I don’t think I should tell you.”  
“And my, who will there be for me to branch this knowledge to? Afterall I am alone now, and without being able to obtain cell service, I am completely isolated. No one to talk to.”  
The man smiled and finally broke the intense eye contact. “You speak weirdly.”  
She began to laugh- it wasn’t a normal laugh, instead it was broken into many pieces, rigidly sliced by nervousness. In some aspects it reflected her degrading sanity. “Compared to your leader? Abraham?”  
The man shook his head. “We don’t call him that.”  
She leaned in, like a friend would, “Then what do you call him?’  
He smiled. “Van Helsing.”  
Without any intention to do so her jaw dropped to create a large oval of a mouth. She gasped loudly which would seem like an over exaggeration, but no, that’s just how she behaved.

Yun Ae finally could see the aircraft now. Dreading in what prison cell she was going to be placed in, she tried to think of happy thoughts. She quickly whipped her head back to see Helsing behind her- she couldn’t. Not because of the great distance they had walked by now, but mainly because of the wrath of snow and winds.  
“What are you doing?” The man shook her as if that would reset her. It did.  
“I am quite surprised I was able to run such a distance. Too frequently am I slow and unwanted. Yet today, I was chased by men and was able to withstand the scorching pain of running for a considerable amount of time.” She nodded since she needed confirmation of her achievements in which the man was not providing, “But why, you still haven’t informed me about the base. What is it for? What is Van Helsing attempting to accomplish?”  
The man shook his head in disappointment. “Putting your large vocabulary to the side, you’re clearly not the brightest. He is here to hunt.”  
“And I am an animal?”  
“You’re annoying like one.”  
“I am flattered.”

They finally arrive at a big, black… thing. She was never good at understanding machineries. But oh boy was it huge.  
The man left Yun Ae, strangely trusting her to stay in place, which was a good prediction since she was too scared to run away as she knew too well of her very disappointing stamina. He then pressed a button and scanned his hand without a glove- which looked painful for her. It may have been because she spent too many weeks in the Arctic, but even the thought of touching snow with a bare hand made her scrunch her face.  
The man then rotated back to her and casually pushed her several steps back to leave space for the entrance to open and lay itself out like a work of art.

The man pushed her in and as they ventured deeper, the entrance behind them began to close. As they were walking they were surrounded by empty cages. Perhaps Van Helsing was a failure after all. “Are you new at this... hunting business?” She genuinely asked.  
“No, why would you say that?”  
“Oh, I do not know, perhaps due to the empty cages that are lined up as we enter the… what was it? The ‘base’?”  
The man grabbed her by the shoulder coolly, “That’s because we kill them.”  
Immediately Yun Ae dropped her jaw. “What?”  
“We collect the monsters and we kill them,” he shrugged, “For the good of humanity.” Convinced Yun Ae was going to argue- which was true- he went on, “Think about it. We have a tower of beastly creatures, one day a mistake occurs- a malfunction. Then, boom, all the monsters escape. Seeing we are their trappers, there’ll be mass slaughter. So the cages are used when we are figuring out how to kill them.”  
Yun Ae began to sweat profusely. She was very glad earlier on the man did not call her an animal. Otherwise she would have been facing the slaughterhouse. “Out of interest, this doesn’t mean I’m going to…?”  
The man softly chuckled and shook his head. “As I said, the good of humanity is our priority. We wouldn’t hurt those we are trying to protect.”  
He guided her like a sheep dog to a door after a solid two minute walk in the hallway. Yun Ae was convinced they were in the end of a corner of this round vehicle. This thing was huge.   
“The guest room.” The man explained. “We only have two. Obviously stumbling on humans isn’t a regular thing. So we’re not that prepared. You might find a spider web or ten.”  
Yun Ae sighed. Even though she was solidly told she would not suffer death, she couldn’t ignore there was terrible room service. “Thanks. What may be your name?”  
“Just open the door.”  
“Okay. Mr Justopenthedoor, I shall open the door.”

The room was in total dark red. There was no other colour than some accidental spray of white in order to outline patterns drawn in red. Everything was dated and cold. The carpet was made of wool, and there were thick bed sheets, and so many cushions. The mirror on a make-up table, she supposed, was dirty and had swirly patterns carved to the wood highlighting the oval shape. Lastly, the whole room smelt of wood. The last part really made her feel comfort, but the rest made her shiver. “Thank you, I am in love with this place- such a great service, Mr Justopenthedoor.” She smiled and turned to see his reaction.  
“It’s really weird hearing a Dad joke come out of a baby.”  
Yun Ae gasped loudly, “I am older than that.”  
“Not by much.” Without waiting for her awkward response he walked away.  
Yun Ae was finally truly alone and the first thing she did was slam the door. The second thing she did was pull out her phone. Then she remembered Tsukiya wouldn’t answer her. Instead, she hoped her family would. She began to dial the number of her mother until she realised her phone was saying goodbye in morse code as it slowly lost all power. Yun Ae had brought along portable chargers but all of them died as well. She and Tsukiya were supposed to return tomorrow, so if she wasn’t given this circumstance she would’ve been proud her phone had lasted so long. But right now her phone was mocking her.  
She sighed once more and even searched for a power circuit. 

Life was so cruel.

In despair she ran to the bed and began to cry. The blankets were so soft yet she felt sharpness in all her body. She cried and cried until she muttered “I’m so hungry” before falling into the chasm of sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

The water was flat since the storm had calmed. In contrast to the dangerous conditions of the Arctic, the night sky was strangely beautiful. The night was smooth with deep dark blue. This bewitching night was observed by Tsukiya. Looking up, he had forgotten much of the exhaust and pain he endured thus far. Although he was still shivering he didn’t seem to acknowledge it at first as he seemed to have also forgotten he was drenched in water and every step he took was like lifting a boulder with his thigh. “Don’t you get the sense of peace when you look up. Every night you must be… feeling alive.” He muttered. “Well, you’d still feel alive in the morning, but more so at night. The sense of calmness, uh, I don’t think I can speak poetically.”  
The Creature stood beside him also drenched in water. There were no signs of it being freezing to the Creature. In fact, by taking away the context the Creature merely looked like an oddly perfect man who had just taken a bath and was too macho to dry himself off. In some ways that was the actual context.  
“Hey, I think I’m gonna collapse. I’m too cold.” Tsukiya shivered immensely, his teeth chattering.  
“I have nothing to offer. I have no clothes.”  
“Let’s just hope we can get back to Scotland soon before I collapse. It’s not gonna be warm there but hey it’s the better alternative.”  
“Where are we going to go, my friend?”  
Tsukiya failed to mask his happiness in being called a friend. “We- uh, I’ll- huh.” He thought for a second. He needed rest. But Yun Ae…  
Frustrated, he clasped his hands to his face and began to yell. This cleared thoughts from his brain from time to time. It was his way of pressing the refresh button. Either that or drinking. But unfortunately alcohol was nowhere to be found.  
He felt the Creature leave his side and Tsukiya assumed it was because the Creature wanted to give him space. Right now it looked as if he was experiencing a mental breakdown and for some selfish reason he did not offer an explanation. Feeling guilty, he looked up to face him, “Look, I--”   
He remembered the Creature wouldn’t recognise social cues. This revelation hit him painfully as he came to face the most monstrous creature known to man: a polar bear.  
Adrenaline washed over him. Unfortunately he never faced situations like this so despite having a massive push of energy all he devoted to was standing still in terror and maybe losing control of his bladder. He knew the polar bear would still charge at a still object, after all it was not a pigeon, but his thought process was utterly frozen and the backup system also crashed.  
As the polar bear was moving closer to its food, Tsukiya finally received a memo from his ancestors advising him how to survive. As of consequence, he began to run. Deep inside he had no hope nor belief that he would be able to outrun a beast, especially when he was so tired and weak. But the poor young man tried anyway- and that was the good choice as the monster behind him was body tackled by the Creature. Illogically Tsukiya slowed down and turned to witness why he was, in fact, not dead yet.   
Before him were two great monsters who were fighting and unwillingly made Tsukiya parallel the scene in front of him with blockbuster movies with giant creatures roaring at each other's throats.   
Realising the grave danger he was still in, he began to run the opposite way. He wondered if the polar bear was a woman. And if it were, he wondered if the mother had stationed her babies to chase after any prey that got away. He imagined them with machine guns- as they were the only guns he knew- with sunglasses waiting to hunt the puny human down. Whimpering, he widened his peripheral vision to the extent of a horse’s (he didn’t in reality but he sure felt like he did). At this point his body did not rely on oxygen for energy which made him dread when he flops down out of energy as every cell of his body would be screaming in agony. He supposed maybe the polar bear should have finished him.

Behind him, the bloody polar bear had ripped the left hand off from the Creature. This caused blood to shoot out comically like a fountain in which he used to blind the monster and punch it in the face. The Creature in truth was throwing punches and kicks anywhere as no human had been able to wrestle the monster, so even with super strength, he did not know how to properly defeat one. This scene would have played out equally the same if he had resided in the jungle and came face to face with a silverback gorilla.  
After the Creature kicked back the polar bear, it switched its target to the fallen hand and bit it, and like a dog with a twig, ran off. This time, it was personal. The Creature’s running speed was quicker than the furry beast, so it was not a real worry he would not be able to catch up to it. No, the real worry was that this oversized bear had swallowed the hand. Which was true. Somewhere within the space of the polar bear giving up and stealing a piece of the Creature and encountering it again, it had swallowed the hand.  
Surprisingly the Creature began to weep, fearing a part of him had gone missing- and that was the price he had to pay for having a friend… His friend… Tsukiya. The polar bear had now waddled off to chase another meat- the easier one to hunt. The human.

The Creature looked far into the distance to see Tsukiya slow down once more and collapse. There was literally no hope for the human to survive. It was only the Creature to help him.

The polar bear began to head for the human and slowly amped up its speed.  
Hunger easily reflected in his eyes as the beast could have a feast. Clear joy reigned the monster. Then its acceleration would be perfectly explicable as its hunger grew and grew as it got closer, but it could have also been because of the Creature behind it and as the two got closer and closer the polar bear’s fear was increasing exponentially.   
Finally the Creature tackled the polar bear once more to the ground wherein he pinned the beast and examined its torso.  
Tsukiya, meanwhile, woke up from the noise and tried to stand up but failed. Instead he just positioned his head to view what was happening. In shock he watched the creature punch the monster into the stomach to retrieve back his hand. It was not necessarily a large animal dying in front of him which made Tsukiya terrified, but rather it was because, in his eyes, a hand had just popped out of the belly of the beast. In his perspective, a random hand was in the polar bear and the Creature somehow found out about this and dug it out from its gut.   
If Tsukiya could, he would have vomited, but he was very weary and passed out once more.

Under the cold night sky, the enormous figure lifted the small human carefully, drenched in blood. It was now his responsibility to get back to England and be safe. 

The Creature heard rumbles of the engine of Helsing’s vehicles as it gradually rose off the ground. Despite having a dilute sense of Tsukiya’s desperation to reunite with the girl, the Creature truly believed the girl was dead. It was just the two of them now.


	5. Chapter 5

One time when Yun Ae was sick when she was young, she lay in bed next to her mother and fell asleep there. When she awoke, it was by the rocking of her aunt. She quietly informed her that she was asleep for twenty-five hours. For the first, and so far, the last time, she did not feel tired. She skipped to the kitchen table and gleefully ate everything that was on it. Then she brushed her teeth and fell asleep once more. Even until this day she could smell the bed and the food and the laziness she felt.  
It was the time she felt most comfort and security. Of course as she grew up she never felt the same emotion again.

Yun Ae awoke by knockings on the door. Yun Ae blew her messy hair that presented itself in front of her face. She was sweaty in her outfit and the floor seemed to be rumbling quite a bit. She felt tired and wanted to return to sleep.

When the person outside injured their hand from too much knocking she supposed, they swung open the door with a heavy sigh which accompanied it- like a wind that finally could enter when the window was open. “Van Helsing wants to see you.”  
It was the same man who escorted her into this damned place. “Oh, hi bitch.”  
“What happened to your attitude? I liked it so much.”  
“I’m tired. I can’t think.” She waddled out of the bed and to the door.  
“Wait.” He ordered.  
“What, strangely attractive pop-up ad?”  
He showed her a dress he was holding behind his back for this very surprise. “He wanted to see you in this dress.”  
She snatched it away from him and took closer inspection of it. “Looks Victorian.”  
“Well done, you have eyes.”  
She stared at him, “I have contextual knowledge of the European world and thereby have more intellect than you do for I can also navigate the Eastern-Asian… thingy.”  
“Nice save- hey did you call me attractive earlier?”  
She shut the door in front of him as she needed privacy to get dressed. “Territory!” She remembered the word she wanted to say. While in mid-sigh of disappointment, she was able to transform it into a sigh of annoyance. She knew she had to play the part. It was Helsing after all- the brutal killer of monsters… Who also apparently had a smile that brought summertime to the Arctic. She shook her head. He must have been acting or was really high yesterday.

When she got changed, she folded her clothes out of habit. Pouting as she wanted to be rebellious in some way, tossed them. She then gasped and folded them back. She didn’t want to be seen as a messy woman.

When she opened the door, he saw the same man in the same position as she last saw him in, “For… me’s sake. What are you still doing here?”  
“First of all, the phrase is ‘for time’s sake’ if you want to keep it PG, and secondly I’m here to escort you. What did you think you were going to do? Wonder around like a mouse learning the maze?”  
“Huh, that’s a good point. What’s your name?”  
‘You can carry on calling me attractive.” He let her walk with him without dragging her.  
“I called you a pop-up ad.”  
“Your insults are not as insult-y as you think it is.”  
She glared at him, trying to formulate a good insult, but now she was scared of being mocked in case she accidentally would compliment him. Instead she wished to forget the entire conversation began in the first place. “What does Helsing want?”  
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “We rarely have prisoners.”  
“Guest.”  
“Don’t flatter yourself.”  
She sighed and rathered for silence instead. It was obvious he didn’t know the answer.

They arrived at a brightly lit room with two men standing, laughing, and drinking wine. By the looks of them they were classy but immature in behaviour. In order to intimidate them she entered in elegantly.  
The man who was not Helsing spotted her first, and his expression dropped immediately.  
Behind her, she heard the door shut and jumped; accidentally revealed that she was scared.  
The man began to smile. “Do you like the dress? Abe made it.”  
“If I were to wear any dress it would be a Hanbok, not a Victorian dress. As you can tell, it doesn’t match my face.”  
The man gestured to her to sit at the dinner table. Yun Ae followed the non verbal order. Also, she wanted to ask what time it was but that would make her seem like a ‘dumb-nut’ as Tsukiya put it.  
Helsing sat down and invited the other man to do the same as well, “This is my friend Henry.”  
“Hello Henry.”  
The man forcibly smiled back.  
“Why am I here?” Yun Ae decided she would not waste attention on the other man.  
“Why, you are the guest.” Helsing struggled on the repetition of the similar phonetics of ‘are’ and 'our’ and merged them. Surprisingly Yun Ae was also guilty of the similar crime so she did not comment on it.  
Helsing sipped his wine. “Are you old enough to taste them?”  
Yun Ae nodded. “My family consists of drunks.”  
They both stared at her, pushing her to go on with their big-eyed looks.  
“There is no more to elaborate. My point was everyone I knew were drunks.” She grabbed the bottle and poured it on the empty, third glass.  
“No friends?” Henry scoffed.  
Yun Ae smiled, but not one of those derived from a happy thought. Like a rebellious teenager she took a swig of the bottle. As she slammed the bottle down from a five-second constant drink, she imagined herself to have stats- like those from video games. She imagined the bar labelled ‘English’ decrease by eighty percent while ‘confidence’ boosted by fifty percent, and ‘very touchy’ increasing by tenfold. “No friends.” She bitterly confirmed.  
“Helsing here told me that you were seen with the Creature yesterday. You and another waddling penguin were able to divert our attention so we couldn’t catch it.” Henry smiled- everyone smiled under this roof; perhaps they all learnt from Helsing how to manipulate people.  
“How sad. I apologise. But I heard briefly the Creature mention he had been able to run away from your ghastly hands several times. It seemed to me I was not the ingredient for your failure. But sure, you are welcome more to point fingers at me.”  
Henry chuckled.  
“How come I didn’t see you out there in battlefield?” Yun Ae cocked her head.  
“Oh, I’m just a friend of Helsing. He does the hunting.”  
She stared at Henry. Then Helsing. Then back at Henry. Her brain cogs began to work. As if she was the villain of the situation she began slurping her wine menacingly. Mainly this act was due to her always wanting to be a villain because they have the best plot.  
“What do you know about the Creature so far?” Helsing leaned in as if they were going to share a secret.  
“I have read and analysed the letters as you presumably did. I can’t offer you anything more. I know much as you.”  
“But how were you able to find it first?” Henry almost snapped.  
Offended but not frightened as she would have been thanks to the alcohol she replied calmly, “He was having an exish- existential crisis- I suppose he wanted to be found that day. We- I got lucky.”  
Henry breathed out his nose loudly like a dragon would. Or so she imagined it to do so. For almost everything she relied on movies or books. Something which was painstakingly obvious from her running around in circles with Tsukiya in the Arctic.

There was a long pause of irritation shared by the two men.  
In response, Yun Ae stabbed the steak in front of her as powerful as her weak muscles would allow and began to saw through the meat with a knife like a lady would. She grinned while doing so and did not look down to see the steak. Carefully, she observed the two men.  
This type of behaviour was repeated throughout the dinner and frankly grew boring. Helsing settled on the assumption that Yun Ae behaved this way normally.

By the time the plates were practically empty, no more discussion had been made. Single handedly, Yun Ae destroyed the bridge of communication between the two merely through her presence. This wasn’t to say she was initmidating nor violent-potential, rather she acted certifiably insane. It turned out Yun Ae sounded like a mad woman if her thoughts were not broadcasted. And they never were.  
Yun Ae stood up and accidentally bowed out of habit. “Thank you for your meal. I ate well. Now what’s you gonna do? Throw me off for not having good enough details?”  
Helsing laughed, “You’re still our guest, and as the french say, let the napkin still be around your neck while you stay here and hopefully it will strangle you to vomit the information we want… willingly.”  
“I think heavily you misunderstood the French culture. And language. And French… anything.” Yun Ae spoke, not worried about the threat he made, but of the french people who told him such a thing.  
“What he’s trying to convey the point of is that it is too coincidental that you met the Creature on the day he wished to be captured.” Henry explained.  
“No, I think it was just fate.”  
“Fate does not exist.” Henry laughed.  
“My fate is to escape here and guide Creature to safety.”  
Henry smiled. “And where do you believe the sanctuary resides?”  
Yun Ae opened her mouth to immediately close it before she revealed anything. Just in case the Creature followed Tsukiya’s advice, she was too afraid to reveal where their locations may be. “Greenland.”  
“I don’t believe you.” Henry monotonously replied.  
“Neither I do.” Helsing agreed.

She stumbled backwards and quickly corrected her footing. “Truthfully we didn’t figure out where exactly.”  
Henry narrowed his eyes.  
“But I can make likely predictions?”  
He then smiled.  
“Dat is geweldig.” Helsing spoke and for a second Yun Ae thought she died from poisoning and this was a hallucination and her brain just farted which was the cause for this dialogue.  
She nervously laughed at a non-existent joke and asked to be excused.

When she exited she made sure to close the door behind her and banged her head against it and experienced heavy breathing. “Tsukiya…” She worryingly whispered.  
“That’s not my name.” The man beside her spoke.  
Jolted by him, she wacked him in the head. “Sorry. You can hit me back.” She spoke, distracted. “Wait, you captured me. Why did I invite you to punch? I’m the victim here.”  
The man shrugged and gestured to her to follow him to head back to her room.

Yun Ae replayed everything back like a tape recording. She knew literally only one thing. She couldn’t give the information away. At this point Scotland was in a flask with a danger sign of an explosive in it. It was definitely not ideal if she were to be kaboomed. She needed to gain the upper hand but it was so hard to think when there was no body to bounce thoughts and hypotheses with. Improvements had to be made by herself. At the very moment, these improvements had to be made by the intoxicated version of herself.

When the two arrived at the guest room once more she asked, “Are you my personal assistant?”  
“No.” He plainly replied as she gently shoved her into the room, “I’m Scott.”  
“Okay, Scoot.” She said as she closed the door on him.

She immediately undressed herself in favour of her previous clothes. It was still called here and there was no heating which would make her give this place one out of five stars. Shameful. They were human beings, not ice cubes.

Drifting to the middle of the floor, she lay down, believing herself to be a child. If she was lucky she would stay in her room all day with no one to talk to but herself. She closed her eyes and focused her energy to sober up. More than anything she needed to escape. The guest room looks like it’s from the nineteenth century but dipped in blood. Soon, she might be joining the blood dye. Shivering, she tried to connect with Tsukiya through her sixth sense. Expectedly nothing happened. Maybe she just had to believe in herself. She laughed at the idea of it.


	6. Chapter 6

When Tsukiya opened his eyes he was being force fed by some man. The young twenty something old man asked him to open his mouth like a baby, “Say ahh.”  
“What is this?” He asked in Japanese, delirious.  
“This is a spoon.” The man replied, seeming to have understood what Tsukiya meant.  
“Who are you?” Tsukiya asked.  
His stomach grumbled in response. So naturally he took the spoon and the soup the man was holding and began eating. He waited to see if he was poisoned, just in case. When he was content that it was just a regular canned food heated up he built up the confidence to speak to the man (who was eerily just watching him). “I’m Tsukiya.”He introduced himself even though he was still eating.  
“Brodie.”  
Tsukiya laughed, “Your nickname can be ‘Bro’.  
He laughed in response, slightly confused on the fact that the strange man decided that was something to comment on, rather than literally any other possible questions.

Then there was a ship horn. For a second Tsukiya panicked that he missed the ship then his heartbeat immediately slowed down after guessing, “Are we on a ship?”  
“Aye. To Scotland. You came here unconscious.”  
Tsukiya cocked his head a little, “How… did I get here?”  
Brodie shrugged and looked at the door which would probably lead to an open space. “A huge guy- handsome… I’d add- came in carrying you. He spoke unusually deep, but that’s probably due to his size. Oh, and he was naked. My father didn’t want to look at his knob so I went and spoke to the man.”  
Tsukiya looked around the room he was in, distressed.  
“He’s on the ship, just not in here with us.” Brodie smiled and immediately dropped it. He shook his head as if he was scolded by his imaginary parent and stood up and walked out. Before he shut the door he spoke, “From when you woke up, there’s four more hours to go. So, exercise, he twisted his hips to mime fast walking, “Because you’ve been sleeping a lot.”

When the door shut the first thing Tsukiya did was close his eyes. Then the wave of embarrassment washed over him. He went over the facts he knew so far. The Creature was on the ship, they were heading to Scotland, and there was a man who helped him. He snapped his eyes open and paused as if he was rebooting- and perhaps he was. From all the facts he knew, he arranged what his next actions would be. Usually he would turn and tell Yun Ae and they would act on the mediation of the two polar opposites however this was definitely not an option now. In a fruitless attempt he imagined reaching to her with his supernatural mind. Of course that wouldn’t work. Humans were truly useless and brought nothing special to the table.

“Damn,” He whispered as he got up and followed Brodie’s instructions in stretching, “What am I supposed to do?”  
Honestly, they didn’t really believe they could succeed in finding the Creature. In his mind, the travel to the Arctic was merely a holiday trip. A really harsh, cold, dumb trip. There had always been the wishful thinking about finding the Creature, showing him the beauty of humanity, but the palace of fantasy immediately began to crumble once Tsukiya realised humans weren’t nicest beings on the planet. In fact they were known to attack anything they couldn’t understand or anything they didn’t want to understand. At this point, Tsukiya wasn’t even sure if people could figure out the Creature was… well, the Creature, and not a giant with a genetic defect.  
He continued stretching as he dove deeper into thought.  
When it came with needing a moral advice, he would usually ask Yun Ae and probably do the opposite. Naturally then he imagined Yun Ae in front of him. By now, Tsukiya didn’t find talking to oneself to be a disturbing insight into insanity as both of them often held conversations in their head verbally. Therefore he felt no shame in speaking out loud. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”  
“Neither do I.” His imaginary Yun Ae crossed her arms in front of him, standing in a relaxed position yet very obvious she was judging him.  
“When I take the Creature back to Scotland, what am I going to do? Find him a job?”  
“He needs money. You could lend him some.” She tapped her chin in thought.  
“What are you, a cartoon?”  
“I’m your imagination, remember?” She choked out a laugh, “Tsukiya, listen, when you first came to the United Kingdom, how did you act?”  
He scrunched up his face.  
“Exactly. And did you think you could survive in the island?”  
“No.” He chuckled I pain.  
“Are you dead now?”  
He felt his pulse on his wrist, “I don’t think so.”  
“That’s because whenever someone goes to a new place, they think the worst is going to wash over them and that they will descend into the depths of nothingness. But that never happens. That didn’t happen to you. You survived! It’ll be the same for the Creature. He will go to Scotland, run in circles before he finally plops down and starts a new life! Simple.” She gave the cutest smile he could remember her expressing. It was never directed towards him, but he witnessed the adorable smile often enough to be able to recreate it in his mind.  
“But I had you. I could settle down because I met you. Even if you went away after the first year we got to know each other… A year with you made me… Less nervous. More functional. The Creature— we don’t have you here. How can he settle down or be less aggressive in society and whatnot if you’re not here?”  
With that point made, his brain pressed pause on Yun Ae. His subconscious needed a little time to come up with a response.

After a few seconds, Yun Ae began to blink again. She uncrossed her arms and stared at him seriously. “What was I to you?” She furrowed her eyebrows.  
Tsukiya unwillingly began to smile. Any memory of her was a warm one. In this case her dialogue made him think of their joyful time spent together. “A dear friend.”  
Her smile grew, “Then be a dear friend to him.” Yun Ae disappeared. 

The darkness of the room acted as a good reminder he was lonely. He stepped outside. Not into the sea, but outside the room nevertheless.  
The winds her strong and pushed him towards to the edge of the ship wherein the railings kept him on board. There were a few people scattered around, chatting lowly about their personal stories about what happened on their trip to the Arctic. By far Tsukiya was the youngest of them all. If anyone was near his age, it was Brodie, who seemed to be an apprentice of the captain or the driver or whatever they were called.

“You’re out,” A man behind him said, surprised.  
“Brodie!” He turned around, “See! I remember names.”  
“Never doubted you couldn’t.” Brodie tried to mimic his odd excitement over seeing him.  
Yun Ae would’ve commented on the fact that he could remember names. It was a rare occurrence after all. He really missed her. And it had been less than a day since they separated. “It’s… Nice out here.”  
“Is it?” Brodie laughed.  
Tsukiya turned to look at the man.  
“It is.” He agreed, “Tsukiya, who is the man who brought you here?”  
He rubbed the nape of his neck, “A friend.”  
“A skuddy-naked man.”  
He didn’t understand what he meant. “Hey, you think he’ll be… normal, right? Back in Scotland.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“That he’d… be… human?” Tsukiya was terrible at making up lies. Yun Ae was the best at it. In fact he was quite certain she was a pathological liar.  
“He is different, isn’t he?”  
“Where is he anyway?” Tsukiya scanned the place.  
“Downstairs. Couldn’t make him be outside in the skud.”  
Increasingly he felt awkward in the conversation because he couldn’t understand the accent Brodie was speaking in. Having ben living in the United Kingdom for many years, one would’ve suspected he could decode every accent, but he couldn’t even manage one of the most spoken accent. Granted, Brodie was also speaking in Scot rather than just having an accent, but that was no excuse to blank out whenever he spoke. It was like his past repeating before him. When he first arrived in England, he had to read everyone’s lips like a deaf man in order to properly understand what they were saying. As it was effective, Tuskiya implored this tactic on Brodie as well. Unfortunately reading someone’s lips also gave a different interpretation. Not that the man said anything about it out loud. “Is it tough being different in Scotland?”  
“Are you asking me this because I’m black?” He lifted his eyebrow seriously until he burst out in laughter, “Nae, Ah wasnae being serious.”  
Again, Tsukiya blanked out. So much so he began to question if he was truly fluent in English.  
“He’ll be fine. Cannae understand me?”  
After a moment of buffer Tsukiya rattled his head to resemble a nod.  
Brodie laughed then apologised.  
“No, no, it’s fine.” Through habit, Tsukiya bowed repeatedly.  
Understanding the significance of this yet not knowing how to respond, Brodie repeatedly bowed as well which caused their heads to collide.  
They both apologised at the same time.  
Grabbing his forehead, Tsukiya awkwardly spoke, “I think… I think I should check out the Cre— my friend.” He shook his head and walked back inside.

It was only when he entered back he realised he didn’t know how to navigate inside the ship. Like a blind man, he roamed around with his arms out until he found himself in the boiler room. How did he know the Creature was inside? He followed the sound of small whimpers. Amazingly enough the Creature was capable of being quiet. However not quiet enough for the walls to mask his pain.  
“Hi, mate,” Tsukiya slowly opened the door and spoke in a soft voice. The last thing he wanted was to frighten him, “How are you doing?”  
The Creature muttered something under his breath, then spoke out loud as if a bubble had popped in him, “They told me to stay inside. I am a monster.”  
“No, no, no,” Tsukiya ran up to him, his hand elegantly placed on his arm, “No, it’s because you’re naked.”  
The Creature nodded like a child would when a parent asked them if they felt better.  
“Once we find you some clothes, you can go back up there and start talking to people.”  
“I don’t want to talk to people.”  
“Well then, you get to be among them. Sound good?”  
The Creature nodded.  
“Fantastic.” Tsukiya smiled. Then his imaginary Yun Ae’s voice rang in his head. He was going to be his dear friend, he decided. “You know what? I’ll stay with you here. We’ll talk about bunch of things. Not just Victor or the past. I want to talk about the future and opportunities.”  
So, in the hot room, the two began to chat lively and by two it was only Tsukiya. At least the Creature wasn’t tuning him out- that meant a lot to him. Tsukiya tried to retain his smile for as long as his face muscles would allow him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 13th June


End file.
